On any weekend in Nashville, the streets of the city are filled with music from Journey, Bon Jovi, Boz Skaggs, Eagles, Doobie Brothers and many others. Big crowds have gathered inside the venues to see these epic bands. Except there is just one difference and it has taken over Music City and evidently a lot of cities as well.
Welcome to the Cover Band Era. It has become so popular that many places are sold out weeks in advance to see these bands. The 70’s had disco; the 80’s pop; the 90’s hip-hop and grunge and on and on. Now with many of those bands that were the sounds of our youth have either stopped touring or in most cases, sadly, they have passed away.
Recently, I went to Key West to see the Beach Boys and there was only one original member, Mike Love. He sang about half of the songs that night and add to the fact that he is about 85, that is not bad. They sounded absolutely amazing and basically it was a Beach Boys cover band. That night, no one complained because they sounded so fantastic.
There is a Journey cover band called Resurrection. They are so good that I challenge you to go see them and close your eyes when they come out. You can’t tell between the real Journey and this cover band. The lead singer even favors Steve Perry so much that when you do open your eyes, you will think you are seeing the real thing.
Then there is the very popular band, called Rubik’s Groove. They play a mix of 80’s, 90’s and into the 200’s popular songs that we all know the second they start playing. They dress us as characters from that era with singers such as the bad guy from The Karate Kid, Ace Ventura and She-Ra. The rest of the band dresses up as characters from that era and they put on one amazing show. They have a cult following around the southeast and most of their shows are sold out. Go see them if you get a chance because they are fun and you will be singing along to every single song. And loudly! I have seen them so many times because they are that good and that much fun.
There is just something special about seeing and hearing live music and no knock on those who are out there performing new material and trying to make it in the big time. They are all deserving of their praise. For those of us who grew up on that music that basically had no agenda and takes us back to when life was so simple, give me these cover bands every single time.
Pretty soon, you will find yourself singing along and having the best time and after all, isn’t that what it is all about?